At the Shot Show in January of this year, I sat next to an Englishman who wrote for a UK hunting magazine. We talked about gun laws in the UK and in the US, and the subject turned to gun mufflers, AKA silencers or suppressors. I was interested to learn that gun mufflers were relatively easy to obtain, and were in fact encouraged by the police. Having a suppressor for your rifle was considered to be polite, and a way to reduce noise pollution. Virtually all air guns had suppressors.

My new British friend turned to me and said:"I never have understood the United States regulation of suppressors. What is the purpose of making them so hard to obtain and own?

I could not answer him. The best speculation that I have found is that there was some mention of suppressors being used for poaching, as a reason for putting gun mufflers in the same category as machine guns, but it was always only a hint. I have never seen that purpose mentioned in the arguments for the National Firearms Act of 1934.

It is easy to see the purpose of the now completely irrational ban on short barreled rifles and shotguns. When one of the major purposes of the original act was to make handguns illegal for most people, and registered and licensed for the remaining few, it made sense to make the conversion of rifles and shotguns into pistols illegal. But gun mufflers? What was the point of that?

Maybe it was just legislative strategy, a trade-off item that was available to be taken out to allow some other provision to be included. Maybe it was simply that the Roosevelt regime was grabbing for all the power it could. Likely, we will never know. Clearly, it was one of the greatest public health blunders by the federal government, ever. Millions have lost hearing because of the extreme regulatory and financial barriers placed on gun mufflers.

Europe is ahead of the United States when it has come to the reasonable use of gun mufflers. The Finnish Supreme Court has ruled that it is a constitutional right to make, buy, sell, trade and use gun mufflers in that country.

One would think, with the second amendment in the United States Constitution, the same would apply here.

But, as my British friend observed, it doesn't; and it does not make any sense.

The fear is that silent guns will be used to commit murders and illegal killing of animals.The fact is that loud bangs annoy people and attract attention.The noise means gun enthusiasts will face neighbors’ pressure to cease such annoying activity.

Yes if you are a law abiding citizen. It never seems to occur to the progressive nannies that criminals don’t abide by the law. If they want a suppressor they just buy one on the street or make one in their garage.

6
posted on 02/01/2014 10:25:44 AM PST
by Georgia Girl 2
(The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)

“Wow, I never realise it was an issue in the US, silencers are a common sight at the rifle range I go to.”

Silencers are heavily regulated in the United States, the same as machine guns. Some states outlaw them completely. In the U.S., there is no “right” to a suppressor. You have to fill out copious paperwork, send it to the local police official, who can arbitrarily veto it, have your fingerprints taken, send $200 and the paperwork to the federal agency, the BATFE, and then have them take about six months to a year and a half to approve it.

If you want more than one, you have to do the above all over again.

10
posted on 02/01/2014 10:58:47 AM PST
by marktwain
(The old media must die for the Republic to live. Long live the new media!)

I wonder if there’s enough momentum to get gun mufflers decriminalized. There are so many times when I would much rather use a suppressor or have one available than have to use ear protection. There are some situations when a suppressor would be much more convenient than ear protection. Home defense is the first scenario that comes to mind.

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